Study Programs in Past Years Report

Running Head: STUDY PROGRAMS IN PAST YEARS
Study Programs In Past Years
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Introduction
Over the past decade's global economic competitiveness as a result of education quality
as attracted attention to early childhood education, forcing national and international education
organizations together to propose a different effective curriculum for the children below five
years. Curriculum and pedagogy have been using in the education system across the world.
According to Arthur, Beecher,Death, Dockett and Farmer,(2017) curriculum is a word from
Latin that refers to 'course' or instead content taught to learners while pedagogy a Greek word
referring to the techniques used in preparing the material. Over the past years, different
curriculum theories adopted and practiced depending on the time of learning, age, and content, to
bring the sense of belonging, being and becoming of the learners. The theories include
Developmental, Behavioral, Cultural, Post-Structural, and Post-modern, among many others. In
Australia, the development of the curriculum is guided by the Australian Early Years Learning
Framework that develops the knowledge content of children from 0-5 years.
According to Biddulph and Carr, (2017) early childhood education is full of folklore and
tradition that are not usually acquired in class. According to the EYLF, all children must have a
quality learning setting resulting in the sense of individuality, connection to the world, a strong
sense of well-being, strong confidence, and; useful interaction skills. Therefore, the current paper
majorly focuses on the child-center curriculum approaches in Australia with an emphasis on how
the criteria create a sense of being, belonging, and becoming among the children in their early
learning process.
Child-Led curriculum refers to the education process whereby the children take command
of the learning process while teachers are there to provide guidance and support (Phillips &
Tossa, 2016). Initially, Australian early childhood education, just like other countries, was

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considered to be teacher-centered; however, due to global changes, educators tend to feel that
children need to have command on what they want to learn. With the advent of the curriculum in
early childhood education, different questions have been raised concerning the capability of the
children below five years to identify their interest in learning.
EYLF's main aim is to support the development of the children to acquire a sense of
belonging, life, and becoming of the community (Ebbeck, Yim & Warrier, 2019). Since young
learners are always below the age of 5 years, the curriculum thus allows the children to choose
what, how and who to engage into play, thus these learners command and initiate their game
with the support of the adults (Keung & Fung, 2019). It is by noting that the child-center
curriculum is underpinned under the socio-ethnic course theory: Ethnic course theory refers to
the education process whereby children are taught about the significance of respectful
association by majorly the families and the cultural groups.
The education system also focuses on providing children with social and cultural insights
during the group plays. The socio-cultural theory draws majorly on the works by Vygotsky and
Rogoff that proposes that educators need to understand and help the knowledge gain and
maturity of children in the context of their communities (Ebbeck, Yim & Warrier, 2019).
According to the duo, early learning is based on the belief system to which children are exposed.
Phillips and Tossa, (2016) describes the curriculum approach as the relationship between
children and the society; thus, cultures do not only dictate the developmental principles but also
shape up the context under which the children are education is supported. The two noteworthy
aspects to the socio-cultural curriculum approach are: the first is that the curriculum is primarily
ethnic, and the teachers are the representatives of the culture who take children as the actions
within the locale that is intensely constituted with the cultural knowledge and believes. On the

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other hand, children recognize themselves as learners of the culture who seek the guidance of
more knowledgeable others (Ebbeck, Yim & Warrier, 2019). Different cultures have different
living exceptions required from each individual to be accepted and embraced by everyone.
Therefore, the educational curriculum approach needs to be interwoven with social and cultural
values; the local leaders determine that.
The second aspect is about the zone of proximal development that identifies that
children's learning and development process majorly is generated through the support from the
adults, and other knowledgeable society members, experiences on the cultural and societal
issues. In the development of the child-center curriculum, it is significant for educators to
understand the importance of play. According to Fleer, (2018) play can provide children with an
opportunity to identify, create, improvise, and imagine through the cultural and the social groups.
Through playing and intermingling with other children within the society, children have the
opportunity to explore, construct, and solve problems as well as recognize spontaneous teachable
moments as they occur (Peers, (2018). Each curriculum is required to create a sense of
belonging, being, and becoming of the children in their early educational foundation. The
following paragraphs critically examine how the child-center curriculum offers a sense of being,
belonging, and becoming to the children.
The sense of being denotes the state of peaceful mind leading to being grateful and aware
of the fatalities'. According to Peers, (2018) individuals who have thought of tending to know
their identity thus tend to be empathetic. In contrast, individuals without the sense of being tend
to exist on the shallow lives since they don't have inmate sharing, thus resulting in loneliness.
Child-centered curriculum through organizing different play techniques and play-partners
enables Australian children to acquire a sense of being. When a child is given an opportunity to

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determine what to play, who to play with, and when to play, they tend to enhance their self-
understanding and inner peace.
Through the support and guidance of the educators, these children can identify and
differentiate suitable types of plays, play-partners, and play-time for the bad ones. Thus when
they go against their own set rules and make mistakes, they tend to regret, repent, and redeem
themselves to avoid self-recriminations. When these children play together with other children
within or outside cultural settings, they tend to learn different things as well as respect one
another's diversity (Leggett, & Ford, 2015). Through intercultural play, Australian children
create a sense of being since they develop realistic images of others as well as that of themselves.
These children can reflect their behaviors on the mirrors and identify their weaknesses and
strengths.
During the self-selected play games, children can develop physical skills that enhance
their wellbeing. When the children individually select right paly objects in an open and flexible
atmosphere, they tend to develop different skills of problem-solving as well as initiate creativity.
Peers and Fleer, (2013) state that in the right play environment children will always engage
themselves in exploration activities since they apply their imaginations skills to invent on the
new situations and assume different roles, making interpretations of the modern world. Through
this, children tend to develop creative thinking more than those children that are restricted to
particular types of play games, time, and partners (Peers, 2018). It is worth noting that during the
self-selected ply games, children tend to examine the properties of the play materials such as
size, color, and shape, to help them organize them categorically.
Children always experiment with the cause and effect process to identify the rightful
place of each object, thus resulting in the development of the problem-solving capability

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(Undheim& Jernes, 2020). During the play, children always can test their mental abilities as well
as their limits to distinguish objects; thus enable them to start learning how to cooperate with not
only the purposes but also with play partners.
The sense of belonging refers to acceptance as a member of a particular group. A sense of
belonging is a fundamental experience within human beings, just like the need for food and
shelter since it elevates the value of life as well as the capability to cope with challenges.
According to Peers and Fleer, (2013) sense of belonging tends to improve health status,
motivations, and happiness as stated earlier that child-centered curriculum allows the child to
determine how what and when to learn, thus through individually selected play object, games,
and partners, children have the opportunity to adopt the sense of belonging. Children are first
belonging starts at the family level then into the broader community through different
interactions such as play (Fleer, 2013). The developed relationship leads to a high sense of
belonging among the children since they can build their identities.
The child-led curriculum thus allows children to determine their play partner's ad objects
depending on the nature and type of their family as well as community aspects (SungKyoung
2016). Through this, they come to embrace various family and social values, thus creating a
sense of belonging depending on the level of acceptance of their actions in the family and the
entire community. Through the dizzy play, children always tend to enjoy their ability to enhance
the moods in the room as they produce their boisterous laughter, bursts, and silly antics in the
presence of the family members.
When children play such games without any restrictions from the parents, they tend to
feel the sense of belonging in the family since their actions are accepted (Fleer, 2013).Through
the self-selected play games and partners, children obtain a chance to intermingle with different

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objects and play partners, depending on their level of acceptance. Playing within different types
of characters, a child tends to identify bets playmates and make friends through positive
interactions. Child-led curriculum majorly uses pretend plays to help in encouraging and
supporting children in identifying and embracing different views about particular pay objects and
games (Knaus, 2014). In the classroom, the child-led curriculum, educators are encouraged to
support children to identify and make things about themselves.
Children at a young age, like making posters and drawing, thus their teacher should help
to make such drawings to be 'about them' and their families, pets, and even favorite objects.
Through this, children have the opportunity and command on what to draw depending on the
level of belonging in the family and society since every human being will always concentrate on
whatever makes them feel special (Fleer, 2013). Generally, the child-led curriculum will enable
the child to identify and engage into various activities that are interconnected with the family and
society values(Michail & Kellett, 2013). Thus when they feel that their actions are accepted by
the educators and diversity respected, they develop the sense of belonging to respective cultures
as well as establish motivations to learn more, unlike when their actions are rejected.
The sense of becoming refers to the capability to identify future behavior, knowledge as
well as identity and responsibility nit as an individual but as a community and family member.
As children grow, their understanding, capabilities, skills, and relationships to grow and shaped
by different environments, events, and circumstances thus the sense of becoming reflects on the
ability of the child to face the complexities in the current and future existence (Michail & Kellett,
2013). The child-led curriculum allows children to choose different learning skills as supported
by educators. The sense of becoming only develops in the presence of a loving relationship that
exists within the family, community, and educators. Through the curriculum, children have the

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opportunity to explore their world as early as from the second year of life and develop the sense
of 'I can do it.' When allowed to choose some of the actions by their cares, children can learn
some of the works by observing their adults(Michail & Kellett, 2013). During this toddling stage,
children are always susceptible to criticism of their efforts; thus may feel shamed and avoids
exploring their world.
The child-led curriculum fosters the sense of becoming since it allows the children to
demonstrate their intellectual abilities to their adults as well as educators. The curriculum enables
children to copy their peers on doing particular things, for example, drawing their families and
pets (Colliver, 2019). Through this, they show to their educator's whit smiles in their faces
waiting for approval. When such skills get accepted, approved, and celebrated by the educators,
children develop some image-esteem connections, thus setting a positive turn to the rest of the
educational process. The child-led curriculum, in the long run, enables the children to become
independent, which is an essential aspect of life.
Children are always intrigued by their capability to do things, for example, when they
show significant steps in moving and controlling their muscles that enable them to emulate what
their parents and educators do, such as drawing patterns, gives excellent satisfaction(Michail &
Kellett, 2013). Thus such children that have the opportunity to develop self-independence at an
early age tend to be successful in life than other counterparts since they can perform the different
tasks as well as create new ideas without depending on the educators.
Additionally, it is worth noting that when the educators approve the self-selected
drawings and games, children tend to emulate their educators as role models and perceive their
actions and responsibility in the future when they grow up concerning their adults and educators
(Lewis, 2018). The curriculum has a positive influence on determining the future carrier of a

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child while at tender age since educators majorly rely on the likes of the children and help them
develop them into becoming better persons in society. Thus positive support and relationship
have an instrumental role in determining the child's journey of becoming in the community.
Conclusion
From the above exploration, it is evidential that early learning is essential to the
development of being, belonging in, and becoming of a child into the society. Different
curriculum approaches have been used, and each has both advantages and disadvantages. Since
early childhood learning forms the foundation of the education journey, the child-led curriculum
tends to be more appropriate as most of the children's senses have not fully developed and need
positive nurturing to attain high-level capabilities. The child-led curriculum is underpinned on
the socio-cultural curriculum theories since it bases that the fists interactions children get come
from the immediate family, neighborhood, and the entire community.
Child-led curriculum fosters the sense of being, belonging, and becoming into the
children in different ways. The feeling of being is developed through the support and guidance of
educators. These children can identify and differentiate suitable types of plays, play-partners, and
play-time for the bad ones. Thus when they go against their own set rules and make mistakes,
they tend to regret, repent, and redeem themselves to avoid self-recriminations. The sense is
belonging and becoming developed through this. They come to embrace various family and
social values, thus creating a sense of belonging depending on the level of acceptance of their
actions in the family and the entire community.

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